Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Récamier, Juliette zhülyĕtˈ rākämyāˈ [key], 1777–1849, celebrated French beauty and social figure, née Jeanne Françoise Julie Adelaïde Bernard. At 15 she married Jacques Récamier, a weal...

(Encyclopedia) Choiseul, César, comte Du Plessis-Praslin, duc de sāzärˈ kôNt dü plĕsē-prälăNˈ dük də shwäzölˈ [key], 1598–1675, marshal of France, diplomat, and soldier. He served as ambassador to ...

(Encyclopedia) Girodet-Trioson, Anne-Louis än-lwē zhērôdāˈ-trēôzôNˈ [key], 1767–1824, French painter. Originally named Girodet de Roussy or Roucy, he was a student of J.-L. David, and his classical train...

(Encyclopedia) Bicocca, La lä bēkôkˈkä [key], former village, Lombardy, N Italy, now part of Milan. There, in 1522, the vicomte de Lautrec, commanding a French army and Swiss mercenaries, was defeated by a comb...

(Encyclopedia) Bartram, William, 1739–1823, American naturalist, b. Philadelphia; son of John Bartram. He is known chiefly for his Travels (1791), in which he describes his journey (1773–77) through the Carolina...

(Encyclopedia) Maurois, André äNdrāˈ mōrwäˈ [key], 1885–1967, French biographer, novelist, and essayist. His name was originally Émile Herzog. His first work, The Silence of Colonel Bramble (1918, tr. 1920...

(Encyclopedia) Le Vau, Louis lwē lə vō [key], 1612–70, French architect, involved in most of the important building projects for Louis XIV. He settled on the Île Saint-Louis, where he built his own house and t...

(Encyclopedia) Melun məlöNˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 36,489), capital of Seine-et-Marne dept., N central France, SE of Paris. It is an important industrial center where automobile bodies, airplane engines, leather ...

(Encyclopedia) Chesney, Francis Rawdon chĕzˈnē [key], 1789–1872, British soldier and explorer in Asia. His examination of a route for the Suez Canal (1829) demonstrated the feasibility of building a canal and l...

(Encyclopedia) Saint-Malo săN-mälōˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 49,274), Ille-et-Vilaine dept., NW France, on the English Channel. Built on a rocky promontory, Saint-Malo is a fishing port and one of the great touris...